College World Series history

Welcome to the College World Series historical database, brought to you by Omaha.com and the Omaha World-Herald. This page is our growing home for historical information about past NCAA baseball championships, which have been played in Omaha since 1950.

You can read historical information for each year of the CWS, dating to 1947. We also created a history page for every school that has played in the CWS. Click a banner on the main page or select a team or year from these dropdown menus.

Participating teams

Texas steps to second straight crown

Series highlights

Texas became the first team to win two consecutive College World Series (the first in 1949 at Wichita, Kan.).

Former Texas football and baseball star Bibb Falk led the Longhorns to the first title at Rosenblatt Stadium with a 3-0 victory against Washington State.

Jim Ehrler also tossed the first no-hitter in CWS history, against Tufts College in the third round. Ehrler struck out 14 Jumbos.

Ehrler also came close to pitching a shutout in the championship game, but was replaced by a pinch runner after in the seventh.

Ehrler also was the only pitcher to earn a win in the championship game on two separate occasions (1949, 1950).

Most Outstanding Player

Ray VanCleef, Rutgers

The junior center fielder batted .458 (11 for 24) in the series while leading the Knights to a co-runner-up finish. Van Cleef batted .404 in 1950, in which he also set the Rutgers single-season record for triples with seven.

Series notes

Note: All-Tournament team selections were not handed out prior to the 1958 College World Series.